The brilliant intellect and candor of Anthony Bourdain is on full display in this collection of interviews from throughout his remarkable career, with an introduction from The New Yorker 's Helen Rosner.
Anthony Bourdain always downplayed his skills as a chef (many disagreed). But despite his modesty, one thing even he agreed with was that he was a born raconteur—as he makes clear in this collection of sparkling conversations. His wit, passion, and deep intelligence shine through all manner of discussion here, from heart-to-hearts with bloggers, to on-stage talks before massive crowds, to intense interviews with major television programs.
Without fail, Bourdain is always blisteringly honest—such as when he talks about his battles with addiction, or when detailing his thoughts on restaurant critics. He regularly dispenses arresting insight about how what’s on your plate reveals much of history and politics. And perhaps best of all, the heartfelt empathy he developed travelling the world for his TV shows is always in the fore, as these talks make the “Hemingway of gastronomy,” as chef Marco Pierre White called him, live again.
First, NO, this is not that new Bourdain book, “Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain” that has been clogging up the news feeds recently. This collection, “Anthony Bourdain: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations,” has been out for a few years now. I have mixed feelings about that new book– but this is about the Last Interview book.
The thrust is simple enough, just seven of his interviews stretching from back in 2003 to his very last one in 2018. Interviewers include Neil deGrasse Tyson and Trevor Noah. The last interview itself is not very long. It is a little bittersweet, however, seeing him praising the honesty and bravado of companion Asia Argento– when so much of the bilge emerging from the new book concerns his emotional upheaval with her.
“That is something that Asia cannot help but do,” he said. “She is brutally honest about herself and anything, and it’s a great quality.”
I miss Bourdain. I still have trouble believing what happened and cannot think I will ever wallow in the sordid muck of the Down and Out book. I prefer to cling to the illusion that he is still out there filming and enlightening us with his wicked sense of humor.
There are no new revelations or tabloid headlines here, it is akin to going back and watching one of his shows. Three stars– not an essential read, but he was always witty and entertaining.
Thank you to Melville House and Edelweiss for providing the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
When I found out that this book existed, I essentially ran to the bookstore at the earliest opportunity and snagged a copy. I am a Bourdain fangirl (you might have noticed if you follow my reviews), and I miss his voice, his wit and his energy. His last interviews? I simply needed this book to come home with me.
And I'll be honest: it's a mixed bag. Some interviewers are simply more skilled than others, and create more stimulating conversation. But it was great to have even just a little bit more of Anthony's voice to enjoy. It was also pretty painful...
The stand outs are a 2014 interview with John W. Little for "Blogs of War" and a 2018 appearance on the "Daily Show".
Here are a few quotes that made me wish I hadn't been reading this on the bus.
"I used to think that basically, the whole world, that all humanity were basically bastards. I've since found that most people seem to be pretty nice - basically good people doing the best they can."
"If I have a side, its against extremism - of any kind: religious, political, other: there's no conversation when everybody is absolutely certain of the righteousness of their argument."
I like “The Last Interview” books for the most part. I’m curious to know more about the interview selection process. Often, the books are too slim and I want more, but I’m sure there’s some bureaucratic reason for that. With Bourdain, I liked the earlier interviews best. The official “last interview” was not that exciting. Still worth a read if you’re a fan.
I had forgotten to post it here. I read the book the day it came out. How could I not?
I still can’t believe that he is gone. Genuine Tony, the chef, the writer, the lover, the cinephile, the inquisitive good man.
“At news of his death [...] millions of people mourned Bourdain the way you mourn a friend: primal, personal, disbelieving.”
I will never forget that morning of June 8, 2018.I was traveling for work in Sunnyvale. A period in my life that I still can’t find the courage to revisit. Not to sound dramatic, but we all have those moments when we open up the softest parts to others and let them see our vulnerabilities as if naked in the sunlight. And they hurt us.
My hands were full with the project I had gone there for and that was a good thing. Right before getting out of bed for a morning shower, a flurry of messages turned my phone into a marathon of chimes. So I ran for the remote and turned on the news. Kate Bolduan was in tears. The chyron broke my heart.
Like many, I loved Tony. I’d been lucky to have met him once and that is a memory I will always keep. I read the book the day it came out, but apparently my emotions about his work are so powerful and personal that I had even forgotten to post it here.
These are difficult times for all of us. I’d feel ashamed to complain. I have it better than many out there fighting, struggling and suffering the cruelty of unexpected loss. Loss of life, jobs, security. It impacts us all though. Love for the road is how it has hit me the most. I’ve been living last five years of my life Tony-style, if you will, and I’m not even sure how the life on the road will look like in the near future. But as Tony brilliantly put it:
“Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom...is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.“
“A few months ago, I was sitting cross-legged in the mountains of Vietnam with a bunch of Thai tribesman as a guest of honor drinking rice whiskey. Three years ago I never ever in a million years thought that I would ever live to see any of that. So I know that I’m a lucky man.” (Summer 2003)
*Read for Anthony Bourdain Day 6/25*
There’s nothing I can say about Anthony Bourdain that hasn’t been said much more eloquently before. Personally, he was the perfect equalizer between my chef husband and myself. He combined food, humanity, and travel in a way that few others have ever done. He taught me that there was more to food than just sustenance, and he guided us to be authentic, non-judgmental, and open, as we began traveling as a couple a decade ago. I, like so many others, want him back in this world.
This short book contains 7 interviews, including with Trevor Noah and his last interview before his suicide. I enjoyed reading it to hear his voice again, but there wasn’t anything really new here. I liked seeing how his thoughts and experiences progressed over the years, while he remained true to himself.
Recommended for fans, but I’d definitely recommend Anthony Bourdain Remembered before this one, for more quotes from him and pictures.
It feels a little strange to read the transcript of a Daily Show interview when you could just pull it up on Youtube, and the final piece here is not really an interview but one of those articles where the writer went to see Bourdain and then wrote a few paragraphs about their chat (result- overly florid prose by the writer, less Bourdain), but in general I think this is a cool if somewhat morbid series, and it's nice that someone made the effort to assemble all these pieces together.
I had never watched Bourdain's show and barely knew who he was while he was alive- I'm just uncultured when it comes to food, and I make no apologies- but I appreciate his point that food is just one window into the world, into other people and cultures, which brought to mind Faulkner's quote about seeing the world in a grain of sand. Just as pro athletes are told to shut up and play- register for the draft, stand for the anthem, don't talk about China- Bourdain often got comments like, "stick with food, man. We don't want to hear politics from you. You're a chef, you know, shut up, we don't want your political opinion." In other words, I want my hermetic fantasy world of food appreciation for just an hour a week- can't I have that?
And the answer is no, you can't. Bourdain tells a story about being in Laos, and eating with a man who was missing both his legs. When Bourdain asked him what had happened, the man told him that when he was younger he'd stepped on unexploded American ordinance...and just like that, a conversation about something seemingly individual had become a conversation about something seemingly political, world-historical. It's hard to keep these concepts separate for very long at all, and when we try, the results tend to be grotesque.
I'm not shocked at all by the idea that someone with money and fame would commit suicide. The more I thought about Bourdain in the second half of June 2018, however- during that month I was one of only two native speakers of English living in a small town in Russia and occasionally exchanging texts with a friend in the U.S. who was taking Bourdain's suicide kind of hard- the more I mulled over my own checklist of external things that would at least seem to make life more bearable, and which Bourdain by all appearances had: freedom to travel, enough money, health insurance, a job that allowed him to be creative, extremely bright and inspiring friends like David Simon, a good-looking girlfriend- sorry if all that sounds terribly shallow, but Christ, we have to aspire to something, don't we? Oh well. I didn't know the guy, but he was a good interview, and I'm sorry he's not around anymore. I think we're going to need all the help we can get in the 20s.
You can read David Simon's reflection on their friendship here:
“He taught us about food – but more importantly about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown.”
Powerful words – from a fellow named Barack Obama in describing the brilliant intellect and candor of Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain traveled an extraordinary road, evolving from celebrity chef to intrepid travel writer to journalist, and ultimately a most unlikely social anthropologist.
His storytelling through culinary adventure was frank, often uncompromising and filled with heart and appreciation for the global cultures and customs he investigated.
Anthony Bourdain: The Last Interview and Other Conversations is the latest entry in Melville House’s “Last Interview” series.
Bourdain always downplayed his skills as a chef. But despite his modesty, he acknowledged that he was a born raconteur – made clear in this collection of conversations. His wit, passion, and intelligence come through, whether in a heart-to-heart conversation with a blogger, an on-stage talk before a large crowd, or an intense interview with a news anchor.
This is compilation of randomly chosen interviews with Anthony Bourdain, including fragments of supposedly his last interview. Probably the title is what will make people read this book but really, there is nothing interesting in here - primarily the interviewer monolog. Bourdain was quoted just a few times. After reading this book I can't resist impression, that it was created for sole purpose of financial incentive of the author.
If you watched "No reservations" and read Bourdain's books, there is nothing new or interesting here for you. And if you don't know who Anthony Bourdain was - well.... you will not get a glimpse of his life from this.
I've spent a lot of time reading Tony's prose and watching his shows and consider him a true inspiration in my daily life. This book felt like a cash grab at reprinting interviews that you could easily watch on YouTube from his mouth directly and save yourself the time and money of reading someone else's curated posthumous list.
I used to make fun of people who felt deeply affected by the deaths of celebrities.
"You didn't actually know them. Sure, you might mourn that you will not be able to enjoy more of their work, but it's not like they were actually your friend," I'd say, like an asshole.
I outgrew telling other people how, when, and what to mourn, but I never actually mourned a celebrity myself until the day I found out that Anthony Bourdain was dead.
Watching Bourdain explore the world and engage those who live there on their own terms made me a better person. Tony seemed to always start each conversation with compassion, curiosity, and empathy. I begin my interactions with judgment, seeking ways that I can prove to myself that I'm somehow superior in order to soothe my ever-fragile ego. Days when I act more like Tony are days I count as progress toward being a better human.
His "Grandma Rule" in particular echoes in my mind whenever I'm interacting with someone new: "If I'm going to Grandma's house, I will eat what Grandma puts on the plate, and I will smile say, 'thank you, Grandma, may I please have seconds?'" His focus isn't on the quality or impressiveness of the food, but on recognizing the effort and generosity of the cook.
So, after reading the wonderful Helen Rosner's introduction to this book in Entertainment Weekly, I immediately bought it. Boy, I wish I hadn't.
Helen's essay is deeply heartfelt, and reflected many of the same feelings I had about Tony and his passing. The rest of the book is a collection of seemingly completely random interviews of Tony over the past several years, without a theme, often clearly intended to only exist in the context of the podcast / event it was originally intended for.
I hoped to get one last look at a man I admire and continue to learn from. What I got is a random grab-bag of interview transcripts with a nice cover and introduction in an attempt by a publisher to make a buck on Tony's beloved status.
It’s amazing how fresh the loss of Tony still feels, and I admit I teared up at the beginning of this book. Listening to Tony always gives me the strength to be a badass considerate citizen of the world.
“I used to think that basically, the whole world, that all humanity were basically bastards. I’ve since found that most people seem to be pretty nice — basically good people doing the best they can.”
Lovely idea for a collected series. Eager to find some of the other ones, especially the James Baldwin edition.
I got into Bourdain after he died. I saw his TV series after his suicide. As a middle aged person, I share his angst( or at least what I imagine to be his angst) & his death shook me, as it did so many other people I know. It is interesting to think of his writing & work in a larger perspective. I enjoy his humility, his openness & his ideas of being a "good guest". His work is in the tradition of Mark Twain & has helped me examine my prejudices. I love him for that.
i miss "uncle tony" every day, he was such a special man with the very unique ability to make whoever he talked to open up and give both more and the unexpected. any one who got to interview him was a lucky person, and we're all better for having him and his ethos so part of the cultural landscape. this was a fun and bittersweet collection of some of his interviews, one star off for having some repeated questions/answers. (he was, as the book says, a prolific interviewee. i don't think it would have been that hard to make sure there was a lot of variance in the interviews.)
Reading this book was both comforting and sad for me. Hearing his voice in my head as I read these interviews was a reminder of all the reasons so many people loved him. His acid wit and humaneness came off the pages in a real way. For the few hours I read this book, I felt he was back. I felt like an old friend had come to visit. It felt odd reading the last interview that was done just before his death. I enjoyed this short read.
Wow, I didn't realize how much I missed his voice. These interviews offer up his truly sage (and often sardonic) advice on food, life, love, hard work, addiction, and passion. It's clear that "Tony" had a lot to give. A self-proclaimed listener who gave many (unheard) voices the forum to speak on his shows, he made the world a bit smaller and brighter. The final interview ends sweetly, though abruptly--which, as in real life, left me wanting more.
The Melville House interns must have handled the copy editing duties as Colombia is misspelled twice as "Columbia"...in a book about one of the world's most famous travelers! Bourdain deserved better.
But the interviews are revealing and inspiring and the book as a whole is a worthwhile addition to The Last Interview series and anyone's Bourdain library.
I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but I couldn't get very engaged with it. The last "interview" was especially disappointing. I thought it was given just 5 days before his death, but it was more like a profile than an interview. I don't think this book was worth my time. I'm only giving it a scant 3 stars because I loved his work.
I've missed Tony's voice. After reading all of his other books, I feared that I wouldn't get to enjoy the experience of reading his works ever again. The five interviews included continue to show what a positive influence Anthony Bourdain has on this world, even though he's no longer with us.
Interesting. Some new insight but otherwise not all that enlightening or interesting. Interviews with some of his tv crew who knew him intimately and his wife would have been better.
Some interviews are better than others, but all in all, it was just great to hear Anthony Bourdain’s voice again, coming alive through the pages. Reading these interviews made me miss him, his blunt and witty banter, and his shows even more than I already did. RIP Tony - we miss you!!!
This is a collection of interviews from 2003 to 2018. With more than a little embarrassment, I must admit that I haven't yet read Kitchen Confidential or Medium Raw or anything else that Anthony Bourdain wrote. I have been meaning to. I just haven't yet.
I am most familiar with Anthony Bourdain's work on the CNN show, Parts Unknown . I watched that show and was fascinated and overwhelmed by Bourdain's bravery and honesty in search of human connections through food and movies and the important things in life. I don't think all of the interviews in the book were top shelf. For me, the last one interview was oddly disappointing. Maybe disappointing is too strong a word. I'm glad Anthony was supporting his girlfriend Asia Argento, who was in the spotlight for speaking out against Harvey Weinstein. Clearly, Bourdain was rethinking his view of women in the world. But - why is he gone? The interview gives no clues that he would be gone soon after that interview. I think collectively, anyone and everyone who appreciated Bourdain's creative work on any level misses him. He should not be gone.
One final note - the introduction by Helen Rosner was five stars on its own. I will try to get to Kitchen Confidential this summer.